71 Road Runner Restoration Started

[71airgrabberRR]

Picked up new AMD Stuff !!!!!




A little while ago we got back home from meeting my friend Ted Stephens of Stephens Performance. He did me a BIG favor and brought all of the AMD parts I ordered earlier from him to the Garlit's show. It sure saved me a lot of money on shipping.

Thanks again Ted !!!!:headbang:

He has a VERY COOL car on a rotisserie display that show cases some of their A Body parts. You can see the car in the back ground of this picture. All of the black parts are new AMD items.

I'm telling you, the industry has definitely come a long way over the last 10-15 years. Back then I never would have dreamed of all of these quality new parts being made that are now available for us to use on our cars.

You guys that have been restoring cars for a while know what I'm talking about.

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Here they are all unwrapped.............

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And of course I just couldn't resist placing the new Quarter Panel in place over the top of the existing one !!!!!

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She looks better already !!!!

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Now I just wished I would have ordered the new Dutchman panel............. Oh well.

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Hopefully tomorrow I can get the interior portion of the car painted and start putting the dash back together. I want to detail the accelerator, brake and emergency pedal assemblies, AC / Heater box, and steering column.

On the steering column this car is a column shifted automatic. Part of the column is broken where the gear shift selector inserts at. I will have to take it apart and replace the broken parts. No I have another decision to make..............

I am pretty sure I have another donor column to convert this car over to a console shifted car with buckets...........................

To be continued .

 

[tallhair]

On 71-74 B body cars and all E bodies, you can remove the dash without having to remove the windshield. The upper dash frame mounting screws are located next to the defroster duct work at the lower edge of the windshield. You have to remove the speaker cover on B body cars to get to the screws. Its a pain to get to them and you have to use a long extension with a swivel.

On all A body cars the upper dash frame screws are located under the windshield gasket, so on these cars the glass has to come out first.

I don't remember what the deal is with 66-70 B bodies though. Sorry

Funny you should ask about the steering column. It has to come apart so that I can replace a few broken parts.

No problem, I will do an little "How to" write up on it. It should be coming up soon, so stay tuned !!!!!

Thanks for the clarification on the difference in dashes and i was wiling to bet you would be getting into that column laying there LOL! Looking forward to the write-up.

 

[Basket case]

oh conole shift without a doubt

 

[ct71rr]

Awesome! X-mas in November:Santa3: ! Can't wait to see the parts on and, more importantly, the write-up on how they were installed!!!

 

[tallhair]

I posted while you were still posting. I know you are amped about the new parts and yes it look better with that new fender hanging there! Looks great in black but petty blue or Red would look great too!

 

[Ron 73]

Good looking parts and that quarter panel speaks for itself, Ted Stephens is a friend of yours! Thats cool to have a friend like him, id love to walk thru and check out his inventory!

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Awesome! X-mas in November:Santa3: ! Can't wait to see the parts on and, more importantly, the write-up on how they were installed!!!

I will be posting the progress as it happens. I'm headed out to the shop and will look for that other steering column I mentioned above. It's a dreary winter time day here. Overcast and sometimes raining. I don't think I will get any painting done today. There are other things I can do though.

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Looks great in black but petty blue or Red

I have to agree with you. I like those colors too........ I will be painting the interior black though. It really wont matter though because it gets covered up anyhow with upholstery etc. I just want to protect / preserve the metal on the interior.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

New Found Treasures

I was scraping off all of the old tar based seam sealer from the interior passenger compartment, and needed to take a little break after that job was done. While I was doing this, I was thinking all along about some parts I had that were extra and not needed on any of my current cars.

I found some goodies that will work with the 72 SSB. So here are the pictures of what I just retrieved from storage. The seats will actually clean up pretty nice and don't have any tears in the upholstery. They will be perfect for my new "driver" car.


I also found the extra steering column too. You know where this is headed.........

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So I drilled out the extra seat mounting holes in the floor pan and set the seats in position to see how they look.

No turning back now.

 

[tallhair]

Any chance you make it a 4 Speed .. driver and all. Way more fun!

 

[Basket case]

you might as well, you're in it up to your ears now!

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Any chance you make it a 4 Speed .. driver and all. Way more fun!

No, this one is staying an automatic. I agree it would be more fun to drive on the street, but I only have 2 of the 4 speed transmissions. They are destined for my 71 RR and 70 Challenger.

I'm trying to build this car using a lot of parts that I currently have on hand, and I have way too many Big Block 727's laying around.

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I was able to accomplish a lot on the car today even though the weather wasn't really cooperating. Once all of the tar based seam sealer was scraped / brushed out, I used my Dewalt angle grinder with a wire wheel to get down into the crevices and clean everything up really nice. This was followed by the use of a DA sander and 80 grit paper to feather the edges and smooth the floor out. I used such a coarse grit, because I wanted the paint to have something to bite into and hold well.

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One more thing I found in storage that will be needed for this car.............

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Here are a few pictures showing the progress.

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Once everything was blown off and wiped down I sprayed it in black epoxy primer, which also acts as a sealer.

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Since this car will be a driver, this step was probably not necessary.

I feel better knowing that there are no "hidden" surprises, and that the car is actually as solid as I thought it was. It looks very nice now.

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Hopefully tomorrow I can start detailing items that belong on the fire wall, and get some of these parts re-installed back on the car.

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My current goal is to get the dash back in, and have the car in a condition that I can start it up and drive it again. Then I can get busy replacing the brakes.

 

[roadrunnerman]

The floor looks great now. When you rebuild the steering column, you will HAVE to show us in detail.

 

[Ron 73]

You sure have went to town on this and it does look great, Maybe you wouldn't have had to go that far but its good and solid and if you do sell it later, it will be good to show someone all the work and prep you've done!

 

[tallhair]

You continue to blow me away man. I understand on the 727 and using what you have. I have way to many 727s and other trans myself. I definitely need to thin the herd.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

I just got back from the Garlit's show again. I was able to locate a gas tank filler tube for this car. One more thing off the "to do" list..........

 

[tallhair]

Score! How long is that show ... like a week?

 

[ct71rr]

Good lord man!! You are a machine!!!!

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Score! How long is that show ... like a week?

No its only for the weekend. Normally the parts vendors get set up on Friday and it's open to the public for the car show / swap meet on Saturday and Sunday.

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Today was spend cleaning / painting parts that are located on the firewall.

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Started by taking the brake pedal assembly apart.

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Then I cleaned off the surface rust in the glass bead cabinet.

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This was followed by spray painting. I masked off the lower half of the brake pedal and painted it gloss black.

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If you look close you can see the gas tank filler tube that I picked up this morning..............

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Here is the end result. The same process was done with the accelerator pedal.

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Then I bolted these parts back in place and installed the insulation and dome light wiring.

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Then I proceeded to clean and paint the power brake booster.

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Followed by the fire wall stiffening plate............

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It started getting late and the paint was still tacky on the booster and plate. So I moved the parts inside to allow them to dry overnight and closed up shop for the evening.

It was a very good day. Hopefully tomorrow, I can install the brake booster and new master cylinder. Then I will start on the heater / AC box and replace the heater core.

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I also installed the gas tank filler tube after it dried. Up until now I had a big plastic plug sealing off the gas tank opening.

 

[tallhair]

And then I went out and Kilt a bar with bare hands and trucked him home on my back and served up a huge Bar-Bar-B-Q lunch to feed the local poor people, after lunch, I rebuilt a homeless shelter and refurbished a library, then I took a break and ran back over to the Garlits show and taught him how to speed shift again and bought some more parts.

After supper I built and orphanage and started on a new wing for unwed mothers

Then I finished all the body work on the 72SSB and rebuilt a stroker for it. Tomorrow I'll finish it up and drive up to IL to restore my buddies RT for him

Well, can't stop lolly gagging here to long I have to restore the 71 AG car before sun up.

Talk to ya tomorrow,

71 AG.

Just funning brother !! LOL

Man you are something else

 

[roadrunnerman]

With all the great work you are doing here, I'm beginning to think that you have both cars done already and it is still taking this long for all the photos to catch up.